The oldest traces of human habitation in Romania date from the paleolithic (stone age)
period. Settled communities whose residents engaged in hunting, agriculture and stock
breeding appeared ten thousand years ago. During the second millenium B.C., the Romanian
area was inhabited by the autonomous Thracians, an Indo-European people, who merged
with the native population to produce the Dacian people. Tribes arose, federations were
formed and small kingdoms emerged.

During the first century B.C. a strong independent Dacian Kingdom arose, centered in the
Orastie Mountains of southern Transylvania, where it developed its political. economic and
military center at Sarmisagetusa. It grew to include approximately the entire territory of
modern Romania and established trading relations with the Greek cities founded on the Black
Sea coast. An aristocratic class and a non-aristocratic, but free, class of citizens evolved,
while slaves were used only on a small scale for domestic service.

The religion of the Thraco-Dacians was monotheistic and centered on the worshop of
Zalmoxes and in the belief in the immortality of the soul. There superior religious ideas
allowed Christianity to be easily accepted by the people when the new religion was
introduced to them.

The Dacian Kingdom flourished from the first century B.C. to the first century A.D., under
the leadership of a series of successful rulers, including King Burebista and Decebalus.
Dacia entered into conflict with the expanding Roman Empire, engaging it in two fierce
wars, 101-102 A.D. and 105-106 A.D., before being conquered by the Roman armies lead
by Emperor Trajan.

Dacia was integrated into the Roman Empire between 106 and 271 A.D. Under Roman
administration, agriculture, mining, trade, crafts, arts and culture developed. The Dacian
population adopted the vulgate Latin language of the Romans, fused with the colonists to
from a Daco-Roman population which simultaneously received the Christian religion and
formed the basis of the present day Romanian people.

Emperor Aurelian, facing the onslaught of the barbarian invasions, withdrew the Roman
military garrisons and civil administration south of the Danube in 271 A.D. The
Daco-Roman population remained in village and territorial communities , which continued
organized life during the eight centuries of barbarian migrations across their lands.

In this difficult period, the Romanian language evolved and the Christian Church was
organized under the influence of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire at Constantinople. Three
Romanian feudal states, known as "principalities" arose in Transylvania, Moldavia and
Wallachia. The Magars settled on the Pannonian plains and by force of arms gained political
control over Transylvania.

The Romanian Principalities represented a rampart against the Ottoman Turkish expansion
into Europe, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the fall of the Balkan Orthodox
states of Bulgaria and Serbia. Romanian prices led Christian resistance against the Ottomans
for centuries.

They included Mircea the Elder in Wallachia (1386-1418); Ioan Corvin of Hunedoara, Duke
of Transylvania (1438-1456), afterwards regent of Hungary; Vlad the Impaler in Wallachia
(1456-1463); Stephen the Great and Holy in Moldavia (1456-1504), who pope Sixtus IV
recognized as "the most powerful athelete of Christ" and who was cannonized by the
Romanian Orthodox Church in 1993 and Michael the Brave of Wallachia (1593-1601), who
for the first time united the three Romanian Principalities into a single state in 1600, and has
since remaied a symbol of unity for the Romanian People.

Facing the growing power of the Ottoman Empire alone, without aid from the western
powers, the Romanian Principalities were compelled to recognize Turkish suzerainty, but
were never occupied and did not become Turkish provinces or "Pashaliks" as was the case
with other conquered Christian lands in Byzantium, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary. Annual
tribute was paid to the sultan beginning in the sixteenth century, but Transylvania, Moldavia
and Wallachia retained their autonomous status under Turkish sovereignty.

As a result of their privileged position, in the seventeenth century, the Romanian states
became the protectors of Christianity in the whole of the Orthodox East and their princes, the
successors of the Byzantine Emporers in the intellectual life and the affairs of the
church.

The Romanian principalities went through an extended period of political crisis in the 18th
century when they became the scene of struggles between the Austrian, Russian and Ottoman
Empires. Transylvania became part of the Austrian Empire, where it retained its autonomy,
with the Emperor assuming the title of Archduke of Transylvania. Austria occupied
north-western Moldavia (Bucovina) in 1775 and Russia annexed eastern Moldavia
(Bessarabia) in 1812. The Russian Empire increased its political influence in Moldavia and
Wallachia and disputes over control of the Romanian principalities was a major cause of the
constant wars between the Russian and Ottoman Empires during the nineteenth
century.

The revival of Romanian politiocal and national sentiment took place at the end of the
eighteenth century when a national bourgeoisie emerged, which struggled for the
independence and unification of the separate states into a single nation. As a result of
Russia's defeat in the Crimean War, Moldavia and Wallachia achieved political union in
1859, under Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866). He was forced to abdicate in 1866
and the throne passed to prince Carol I, of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen house.

Romania joined Russia in the war against the Ottoman Empire in 1877-1878 and contributed
decisivly to the victory against the Turks. It was recognized as an independent state at the
Peace Conference of Berlin in 1878 and was raised to the rank of a Kingdom in 1881.

After its defeat by Prussia in 1867, the Austrian Empire was reorganized as the dual
monarchy of Austria-Hungary and Translyvania was incorporated into Hungary, against the
will of the Romanians, who formed over seventy pecent of the population. Until 1918, the
history of Transylvania was marked by the Romanian struggle for unification with the
Romanian Kingdom. During this period, as a result of ethnic and economic repression,
Romanians began to emigrate from their homeland to the United States and Canada in search
of economic opportunity and political liberty.

Romania maintained its neutrality for the first two years of World War I, but declatred war
on Austria Hungary on 15 August 1916, with the acknowledged intention of librating and
unifying Transylvania. By their free choice, the peoples of Bessarabia, Bucovina,
Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures declared their formal union with the Romanian
Kingdom in1918.

Romanians developed their economy and culture during the next two decades and the people
enjoyed a large measure of democracy and freedom of the press. Romanian foreign policy
supported existing peace treaties but under the combined prssure of Germany and the Soviet
Union, northern Transylvania was ceded to Hungary, northern Bucovina and Bessarabia were
occupied by the Soviet Union and southern Dobrujia (th Quadrilater) was ceded to Bulgaria
in 1940. Romania joined germany in the war against the Soviet Union , in an attempt to
recoup its lost territory.

As a result of the Yalta Agreement, Romania entered the "Soviet Zone of Influence" and
was occupied by the Red Army. King Michael I abdicated the throne and Romania was
proclaimed a comunist people's republic in 1947. The economy was reorganized using
Soviet methods, agriculture was collectivized and traditional culture was altered or
destroyed.

Tens of thousands were encarcerated and thousands died in prision or labor camps. In
December 1989, Nicolae Ceausescu, the last communist president was overthrown and after
a half century of Communist exploitation and repression, the people of Romania are
attempting to restructure the economy and establish a democratic political life.